Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Rangers try to put Lightning on brink

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz, a daily in-depth look at the 2022 NHL postseason. There is one playoff game scheduled for Sunday, the 35th day of the postseason.

On Tap

New York Rangers at Tampa Bay Lightning (3 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS)
The Lightning hope to avoid falling into a 3-0 hole in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Final with Game 3 at Amalie Arena. The Rangers won both games at Madison Square Garden and handed the Lightning back-to-back losses in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2019, when they were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round. Tampa Bay was 17-0 following a loss since the beginning of the 2020 postseason before they were defeated 3-2 in Game 2. Goalie Igor Shesterkin has been a difference-maker for the Rangers, stopping 66 of 70 shots (.943 save percentage), while Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has stopped 53 of 62 (.855). Rangers defenseman Adam Fox has four assists, and forwards Mika Zibanejad and Filip Chytil each have scored two goals in the series.

What We Learned

Colorado's definition of "boring" different than most
The Colorado Avalanche are 6-0 on the road in the 2022 playoffs after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final. Asked about the success away from home, Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon said, "You don't got to please anybody. We're here to hopefully make it boring and gross and just play a good two-way game. There's no show to put on when we're on the road." Boring? Gross? Those are not descriptions most teams would use after peppering the opposition with 43 shots like the Avalanche did in this game. Imagine how many they would have totaled had they played an entertaining game in MacKinnon's eyes? In the end, that's just how good this team is. The Avalanche talked about how well they played defensively, limiting Connor McDavid, the best player on the planet, and his Oilers teammates to 29 shots. The bottom line: This is a complete team that can play any way you want. Game 3 was yet another example. -- Mike Zeisberger, staff writer
Even a sharp start wasn't enough for Oilers
McDavid brought the Rogers Place crowd out of their seats 38 seconds into Game 3 with his goal, but the momentum and energy gained from the strong start was gone by the end of the first period, in part because the Oilers had seven shorthanded minutes to kill and the deep Avalanche found a way to tie the game 1-1 on a fortunate bounce after Valeri Nichushkin took what looked to be a harmless shot. The Oilers experienced again that these Avalanche are not easily discouraged in any situation, and that's going to require an even stronger push in Game 4 on Monday if they hope to extend the best-of-7 series past the minimum. -- Tim Campbell, staff writer

About Last Night

Colorado Avalanche 4, Edmonton Oilers 2
The Avalanche pushed the Oilers to the brink of elimination when J.T. Compher scored the game-winning goal at 12:42 of the third. Compher, fresh out of the penalty box, won a battle for the loose puck along the boards against defenseman Evan Bouchard and scored five-hole against Mike Smith from the right face-off circle, his fifth goal in his past four games. Nichushkin scored two goals and Pavel Francouz made 27 saves for the Avalanche. McDavid and Ryan McLeod scored, and Mike Smith made 39 saves for the Oilers. Colorado forward Nazem Kadri left with an undisclosed injury after he was hit into the boards by Edmonton forward Evander Kane at 1:06 of the first period. Kadri has been ruled out for the series. Kane was assessed a major penalty for boarding and will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety.